Impacts of Africa RISING in Mali

Impacts of Africa RISING in Mali PDF

Author: Haile, Beliyou

Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst

Published: 2023-12-01

Total Pages: 37

ISBN-13:

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This study evaluates the impact of Africa RISING, a sustainable intensification (SI) program, implemented in Bougouni, Yanfolila, and Koutiala cercles in southern Mali beginning in 2012. Using a participatory action research framework, the program validated and promoted alternative SI options including fertilized groundnut and sorghum, crop-legume intercropping, intercropping of two compatible legumes, access to extension services, and fertilizer microdosing, while preserving ecosystem services in the face of projected population growth and climatic changes. Impact is estimated on several SI indicators and domains using two rounds of quasi-experimental panel data (surveys conducted in 2014 and 2022) and difference-in-differences techniques. The unique study design allows us to estimate the impact of Africa RISINg by comparing outcomes among program beneficiaries with two different counterfactual groups—one located inside program villages (within-village comparison) and another in non-program (control) villages (out-of-village comparison) on several indicators across five SI domains— environment, productivity, economic, human, and social. We also conduct a placebo test comparing non-beneficiaries in the two counterfactual groups. We find no statistically significant differences among households in the within-village and out-of-village comparisons, most likely because of misreporting of program participation. Overall comparisons between households in target and non-target villages show a positive impact of AR on environmental variables such as access to extension services, implementation of intercropping techniques, and adoption of improved crops; on productivity variables such as green bean yield; and on economic variables such as an increase in the non-agricultural wealth index; but no statistically significant effect on human and social indicators, namely household dietary diversity, food consumption scores, and nutritional indicators for children 0–59 months old and women 15–49 years old. Estimates based on within-village, out-of-village, and placebo comparisons suggest important insights about the challenges in assessing the impact of agricultural programs in general and, specifically, participatory multi-intervention programs in the presence of sample (self-)selection and spillovers. Our study highlights useful empirical lessons learned to inform future program design and impact assessments.

Africa RISING in Mali – impact brief

Africa RISING in Mali – impact brief PDF

Author: Azzarri, Carlo

Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst

Published: 2023-12-04

Total Pages: 5

ISBN-13:

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Interventions/Innovations Africa RISING (AR) initiatives in Mali were implemented in Bougouni, Yanfolila, and Koutiala cercles (administrative units) in the Sikasso region of the country. The initiatives included an ambitious cropping systems component focused on the adoption of improved crop varieties (sorghum, groundnut, okra, eggplant, and tomato) and farming methods (cereal-legume intercropping, cereal-vegetable intercropping, and fertilizer microdosing). Livestock system interventions aimed at improving small ruminant production through improved feeding and vaccination, while natural resource management activities concentrated on the reduction of soil erosion through contour bunding. Program interventions also included a series of nutrition-oriented trainings directed to extension workers and women as well as the establishment of nutrition support groups.

Africa Rising?

Africa Rising? PDF

Author: Ian Taylor

Publisher: Boydell & Brewer Ltd

Published: 2014

Total Pages: 210

ISBN-13: 1847010962

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Africa is said to be rising, turning a definitive page in its history, heralding new and exciting possibilities for the continent. This discourse maintains that with upsurge in economic growth comes improved governance and endogenous dynamics; that the emerging economies, and especially the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa), have been instrumental in diversifying Africa's international relations, perhaps leading to a radical change in the global order, favourable to the developing world. But to what extent is this true, and how deep and how broad has been the impact on society at large? This book takes a critical look at the prevalent Africa Rising discourse, and explores the nature and implications of Africa's "rise" and the role that the BRICS have played in it. The author argues that Africa has still to undergo any structural transformation; that there is strong evidence that deindustrialisation and jobless growth have accompanied the upsurge of interest in the continent; and that far from making a radical turn in its developmental trajectory, Africa is being pushed into the resource corner as commodity exporters, to the North (and now, the BRICS) with little scope for industrial progress or skills advancement. Hope that the BRICS might offer an alternative to the extant neoliberal order are misplaced, for the BRICS have a stake in maintaining the current global unequality. Africa must therefore fashion its own independent path - while the emerging economies will be important, relying on external actors may simply reproduce anew the current state of underdevelopment. Ian Taylor is Professor in International Relations and African Politics, University of St Andrews; Chair Professor, Renmin, University of China; Professor Extraordinary, University of Stellenbosch, South Africa; Honorary Professor, Institute of African Studies, Zhejiang Normal University, China; and a Visiting Scholar at Mbarara University of Science and Technology, Uganda.

The Narrative of Africa Rising

The Narrative of Africa Rising PDF

Author: Darlingtina K. Esiaka

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2024-06-13

Total Pages: 197

ISBN-13: 1666958522

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Throughout time, African civilizations have manoeuvred and negotiated successfully to maintain their societies and ensure cultural continuity despite encountering expanding trade, foreign invasion, and imposition of colonial and neocolonial states. The Narrative of Africa Rising: Changing Perspectives evaluates the discourse on “Africa Rising” through representative case studies to create a complex and layered account of Africa’s struggles to rise above challenges and conflict in the twenty-first century. Using empirical data and field observations, editors Darlingtina K. Esiaka and Jamaine Abidogun measure Africa’s complex and uneven development over time to provide insight into how Africans across the continent utilize indigenous socio-political economic processes in the face of neocolonial “nation state” systems that routinely fail them. Africa’s twenty-first century rise is erratic as it struggles to undo the damage of colonialism and to fight neocolonial exploitation, but what stands the test of time are African civilizations’ sophisticated societal institutions that continue to vie for the wellbeing of their citizens.

Africa RISING Baseline Evaluation Survey (ARBES) report for Mali

Africa RISING Baseline Evaluation Survey (ARBES) report for Mali PDF

Author: Howard, Patrice

Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst

Published: 2016-06-10

Total Pages: 55

ISBN-13:

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As part of its Feed the future Initiative, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) supported the development of an innovative research for development project to promote the sustainable intensification of small-scale agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa. Smallscale agriculture represents the main economic activity of the majority of sub-Saharan African population. Therefore, to address global hunger and poverty, the Feed the Future initiative (FtF) developed Africa RISING (Research In Sustainable Intensification for the Next Generation). Africa RISING is an agricultural research program aiming to provide pathways out of hunger and poverty for small holder families, in particular for women and children, through the development of farming systems that can sufficiently improve nutrition and income security, while conserving or enhancing the natural resource pool.

Africa RISING impact assessment report

Africa RISING impact assessment report PDF

Author: Haile, Beliyou

Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst

Published: 2024-07-01

Total Pages: 34

ISBN-13:

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This report summarizes lessons from cross-country analyses of the impact of the Africa RISING (AR) program. Implemented in six countries—Ethiopia, Malawi, Tanzania, Zambia, Mali, and Ghana—AR aimed to provide pathways out of hunger and poverty for smallholders by sustainably intensifying their farming systems in order to enhance income and food security, particularly for women and children, while conserving or enhancing the natural resource base. Phase I (2012–2016) focused on the validation of demand-driven sustainable intensification (SI) innovations, while Phase II (2016–2022) focused on the scaling of a subset of validated SI innovations in partnership with development partners. Our impact assessment studies covered all program countries, except Zambia, and are based on two rounds of household panel survey data, excluding Ethiopia for which program effect is estimated using one round of survey data. Impact is estimated using the difference-in-differences method for countries with panel data or, for Ethiopia, based on simple comparison of outcomes between program beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries. The choice of impact indicators is guided by the Sustainable Intensification Assessment Framework (SIAF) framework and survey data availability. Impact indicators encompass the five sustainable intensification (SI) domains discussed in the SIAF: environment, productivity, economic, human, and social.

Poverty in a Rising Africa

Poverty in a Rising Africa PDF

Author: Kathleen Beegle

Publisher: World Bank Publications

Published: 2016-03-10

Total Pages: 164

ISBN-13: 1464807248

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Perceptions of Africa have changed dramatically. Viewed as a continent of wars, famines and entrenched poverty in the late 1990s, there is now a focus on “Africa rising†? and an “African 21st century.†? Two decades of unprecedented economic growth in Africa should have brought substantial improvements in well-being. Whether or not they did, remains unclear given the poor quality of the data, the nature of the growth process (especially the role of natural resources), conflicts that affect part of the region, and high population growth. Poverty in a Rising Africa documents the data challenges and systematically reviews the evidence on poverty from monetary and nonmonetary perspectives, as well as a focus on dimensions of inequality. Chapter 1 maps out the availability and quality of the data needed to track monetary poverty, reflects on the governance and political processes that underpin the current situation with respect to data production, and describes some approaches to addressing the data gaps. Chapter 2 evaluates the robustness of the estimates of poverty in Africa. It concludes that poverty reduction in Africa may be slightly greater than traditional estimates suggest, although even the most optimistic estimates of poverty reduction imply that more people lived in poverty in 2012 than in 1990. A broad-stroke profile of poverty and trends in poverty in the region is presented. Chapter 3 broadens the view of poverty by considering nonmonetary dimensions of well-being, such as education, health, and freedom, using Sen's (1985) capabilities and functioning approach. While progress has been made in a number of these areas, levels remain stubbornly low. Chapter 4 reviews the evidence on inequality in Africa. It looks not only at patterns of monetary inequality in Africa but also other dimensions, including inequality of opportunity, intergenerational mobility in occupation and education, and extreme wealth in Africa.

Environmental Change and African Societies

Environmental Change and African Societies PDF

Author: Julia Tischler

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2019-10-07

Total Pages: 367

ISBN-13: 9004410848

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The volume Environmental Change and African Societies contributes to current debates on global climate change from the perspectives of the social sciences and the humanities. It charts past and present environmental change in different African settings and also discusses policies and scenarios for the future. The first section, “Ideas”, enquires into local perceptions of the environment, followed by contributions on historical cases of environmental change and state regulation. The section “Present” addresses decision-making and agenda-setting processes related to current representations and/or predicted effects of climate change. The section “Prospects” is concerned with contemporary African megatrends. The authors move across different scales of investigation, from locally-grounded ethnographic analyses to discussions on continental trends and international policy. Contributors are: Daniel Callo-Concha, Joy Clancy, Manfred Denich, Sara de Wit, Ton Dietz, Irit Eguavoen, Ben Fanstone, Ingo Haltermann, Laura Jeffrey, Emmanuel Kreike, Vimbai Kwashirai, James C. McCann, Bertrand F. Nero, Jonas Ø. Nielsen, Erick G. Tambo, Julia Tischler.